tomorrow. this morning on "early today," clear-cut victory. mitt romney moved closer to the presidential nomination with a win in illinois. an ounce of prevention. new research finds one of the oldest and cheapest drugs out there could help fight cancer. and stroke of luck. a painting is anything but. >> hello, and good morning to you. i am veronica de la cruz. today we begin with a decisive

win. with 47% of the vote romney's double-digit victory over santorum further justified his claim to be the presumptive nominee. >> mitt romney shored up his frontrunner status in illinois. another win, this one by a large margin in another big midwestern battleground state. >> join us, join us, together we will insure that america's greatest days are still ahead. thank you, guys. >> romney showed his strength, winning men and women voters in illinois, and most said the economy was their number one concern. >> i don't care what the unemployment rate is going to be. >> rick santorum campaigned on freedom from big government. he missed the opportunity to show he could win in the state

republicans would need in the fall, but he stuck to his theme. >> economy, national security concerns, and the family, and it's all at stake and it's freedom. >> the republican race boils down to delegates. santorum win as share of illinois. mitt romney most likely wins more illinois delegates, and he is not on track to lock of nomination, but he has his first win in the south. any republican election year budget proposal yesterday drew immediate criticism for cuts in the medicare and for the poor. ryan detailed the proposal, which calls for turning over the state's responsibility for

programs, including medicaid and food stamps. democrats vowing to protect the elderly and the poor point on it the senate has no plans to consider the gop proposal. nbc learns that president obama plans to speed up the process of the keystone pipeline. on thursday in oklahoma the president will announce his decision to expedite the pipeline from oklahoma to the gulf of mexico. in january the president denied a permit for the pipeline saying there was not enough time to conduct a environmental review. a line of angry protesters flowed out the door of the allen chaple church in florida as a crowd of some 350,000 voiced their outrage of the shooting.

a grand jury will meet april 10th to review the case. a federal probe has also been launched. later on, the parents of trayvon martin will talk about the outrage. flash flooding around dallas led to a number of close calls on tuesday. a dash cam shows officers helping a homeless man, and also pushing cars to safety. in california a man was rescued from a grain silo. he was cleaning what was supposed to be an empty grain bin, and instead it filled up all the way up to his chest. and in kentucky, what could have been a deadly travel, but a

10-year-old boy who escaped the flames looked back and saw his 6-year-old sister inside, and ran back to protector. and then seeing red over their daughter being punished for having pink hair. they claimed the school kicked her out of class because of it. her father promised she could get her hair colored if she improved her grades and she did, even making it on the honor roll. the school says the pink hair violated the dress code. if she's not hurting anybody, let it be pink. >> the students need to support her. >> would you do that? >> yeah, i would, if that's the real reason they kicked her out. >> good morning, everyone. it certainly feels like we have been in the middle of an april

fools' heat wave for march. 85 was the high in chicago. easily shattered the record high, and three degrees away from the all-time march high. and it was 80 degrees yesterday in burlington, vermont. that's the earliest they ever hit 80 in a calendar year. this is off the charts. 82 in detroit is the warmest you have ever been this early in the winter season. as far as right now, we have a lot of warmth out there from chicago down to atlanta. but the big story overnight was the flooding rains in louisiana, but a nasty situation down here in the lake charles area, and this is over the last 12 hours, this rain and thunderstorms have not been moving. rainfall totals are estimated from port arthur to along the border of louisiana and we have significant flash flooding in the small communities outside of the big city.

that's why we have the flash flooding warnings here for all eastern sections of louisiana this morning. we have a rain threat towards new orleans and kansas city. that's the national forecast and now he's a look at the weather outside your window. >> the incredible warmth will see thunderstorms this afternoon and our friends in florida and southeast georgia through the carolinas, you have been in the 80s. >> it looks like today is probably the last peak day of all the record heat and we will slowly try to get back to normal soon. >> what is normal? >> i don't even know anymore. data on china rattles the streets, and the ultimate in intrusive technology. plus, kermit it's his and miss piggy thinks it's hers. coming up, peyton is

introduced, and you are watching "early today." . . .

very g very good morning to you. welcome back to "early today." i am veronica de la cruz. a powerful earthquake hit mexico yesterday damaging many buildings. the 7.4 magnitude earthquake caused disruptions in cell phones but no fatalities. a gunman suspected of killing four people at a jewish school, and the suspect may have trained in pakistan. syrian troops are battling forces in several cities, and russia says its ready to support a new u.n. effort to force assad to help in the crackdown against

the opposition. and then a painting was actually done by van gogh. the work called "still life" with meadow flowers and roses was painted by van gogh on top of another work of his. here is an early look at one of your top health headlines. new studies say people that took an aspirin every day were 36% less likely to be diagnosed with cancer, and it reduced the chance cancer would spread to other organs by 50%. still doctors previed caution for patients because it also can cause a risk in bleeding and stroke. knew here now the dow opens

the 13,170. the s&p lost four points and the nasdaq also down by four. worried about china's growth had investors down. it sparked an early selloff. the s&p's index was hardest hit along with industrial and commodity stocks. and then a quest for home building permits hit a three-year high in february. good news from amazon because of the purchase of kiva systems. and oracle traded higher after the company rebounded from a

rare earnings miss last quarter. and an automaker is hoping new models will hit oversees in 2014. and hewlett-packard is improving efficiency. the new ipad runs about 12 degrees hotter than its predecessor during gaming but it doesn't appear to be a serious problem. beginning next month "the new york times" will cut in half from 20 a month to ten of articles online. and then a company filed for a u.s. patten for a tattoo that would vibrate when somebody tries to reach you on your phone. talking about letting technology get under your skin. peyton manning is officially

a bronco. and then a woman goes up for the dunk. your early morning sports headlines are straight ahead. very impressive, but not as impressive as the record-high temperatures across the great lakes. that's coming to an end. your forecast is coming up. you are watching "early today."

very good good morning to you. if you are just waking up this is "early today." in sports last night in the fourth straight game since the coach resigns, the new york knicks were winners. >> good morning. if you think it's hard to figure out the knicks, you are not alone. after tkrauling six in a row, they are now a perfect four in a row under the new coach. they played defense. knicks are rolling once again and beat the raptors 106-107. the heat decided to show up in playing the sun. chris bosh led the way, and 99-95. and lakers used to be able to take over a game in a blink of an eye. the rockets fed off the crowd and rallied in the fourth, and they won it 107-104.

hockey, who says penguins can't fly? they have flown to the top of the standings. the kid now has nine points in four games since coming back from a concussion. nfl and "dancing with the stars" hines ward announced his retirement. peyton manning introduced as the quarterback of the broncos. denver odds went from 75-1 overnight. and one-handed jam came in a blowout win against florida, and it's one girl you don't want to play in a game of horse. that's your early look at sports on "early today." which supermodel is having a

baby? guess who is turning 50. plus, it's not for the faint of heart, but it is for certain folks over 100 years old. you are watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." amazing warmth continues one more day from chicago to wisconsin and milwaukee to detroit and everywhere in the

ohio valley and still warm in the east coast. storms will continue in the middle of the country. louisiana, more heavy rain, especially towards new orleans. and then tomorrow we cool down a little bit around chicago. the east coast, though, you are looking at your warmth continuing until friday. an impressive stretch here to the end of march. if you are watching us on 41 action news, that's today in kansas city, missouri. see art inspired by krump. that's your early today event. >> so many people can't believe it's so hot. >> yeah, it's crazy. here is a early look at the headlines in the entertainment world. and the 62-year-old thinks

"pretty woman" was a silly comedy that glorifed wall street men and shouldn't have. adriana lima is pregnant. and then the pizza loving crime fighters will come from an alien race, and everybody knows it was a mysterious radioactive ooz that created the turtles. >> i used to watch it after school long ago. >> and matthew broderick turns 50. and the mupets got their look on the star. >> they did not have their own star? >> no. >> and the rugrats and shrek

there are have theirs. >> i could understand shrek. >> something is not right here. and this comes from us in nearby ogden, where a 101 woman had a record flight back in september, but it took a while to confirm the details because back when she was born in what was then the territory of arizona, they didn't keep birth records. the great grandmother was inspired by her son who took up the hobby at age -- get this, 75 years old. i am veronica de la cruz.

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] >> good morning, everyone. we're starting out today very much like yesterday with some low clouds, fog and drizzle to start the day. this afternoon, we'll probably get some breaks in the cloud deck just like yesterday. 56 at the airport. you're probably going to see some drizzle on your way to work or school this morning. i would not call it rain. later this afternoon, we'll get a break in the clouds and some sunshine. most of you will have a dry day once get past the early morning hours. we'll come back in a few minutes and take a look at the forecast. >> see you in a bit.

time now 4:57. coming up on the 11 news today -- >> you might have to keep a closer eye on your mail after the city changes its jury duty system. >> the mayor release the new budget proposal. find out what it means for city residents and employees. >> mitt romney wins big in illinois. how he did it and what comes next just ahead. >> if you're traveling in the next few minutes through the city, we have a water main break to tie you up. th

-dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal. is there a prize in there? oh, there's a prize, all right. is it a robot? no. is it a jet plane? nope. is it a dinosaur? [ laughs ] [ male announcer ] inside every box of heart healthy cheerios are those great tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. stickers? uh-uh. a superhero? ♪ kinda. [ male announcer ] and we think that's the best prize of all. ♪ >> good morning. >> thanks for joining us for 11 news today. >> it is pretty humid out there today. >> the dew point i